The present invention relates generally to a round baler for crop material.
More particularly, the present invention relates to a round baler for crop material, with a bale chamber which includes a movable flap for delivering a bale formed out of the crop material in the bale chamber, with a wrapping material dispenser for supplying a wrapping material web for wrapping a finished bale in the bale chamber, and a knife, which is movable from a “ready” position into a final position to separate a continuous web of the filling material between the dispenser and the bale chamber, thereby enabling the wrapped bale to be delivered out of the baler. A round baler of this type is known, e.g., from DE 3418681.
DE 195 482 71 A1 describes a round baler with a housing which can be swung open to eject a finished bale; an actuating element in the form of a hydraulic piston cylinder unit is provided to drive the swiveling motion.
It is possible to eliminate a separate actuating element for moving the knife by coupling its return motions to the “ready” position—in which it is ready to separate the wrapping material webs—to the opening and/or closing motion of the flap. This is an economical solution, provided the wrapping procedure functions properly If problems arise with the wrapping of the bales, however, e.g., because the wrapping material was wrapped around a roller instead of the bales, or the wrapping is not tight enough to hold the bales together, it can be necessary to trigger a second cutting procedure without being able to first eject the bale.
This means the flap must remain closed, and the coupling of the knife reset position to the swivelling motion cannot be used to return the knife to the “ready” position. A user must therefore manually access the knife to move it back into the “ready” position. Since the bale chamber cannot be swung open without the bale material falling out, it is difficult to access the knife, and there is a risk that the operator will become injured in the attempt to reset the knife.